Fryeburg Academy's Winter Sports Season Underway by Catie Nippins '25

Winter in the Valley is well underway, and here at Fryeburg Academy, this means the winter sports season is as well. While Fryeburg boasts a competitive roster of winter sports such as Nordic, Alpine, Basketball, and Wrestling, one lesser-known team is training hard to display powerful results across New England.

Mount Washington Valley Ski Team is a local club ski team based out of Cranmore, Attitash, and Wildcat, with student-athletes competing at high levels in hopes of continuing their ski career after high school.

MWV’s affiliation with FA allows students to focus on their academics while allowing them the flexibility to travel for competitions and gain extra hours of practice to hone their skills. FA-MWV athletes typically have classes in the morning before leaving for practice halfway through the day, spending upwards of four hours on the hill before returning. Student-athletes carefully balance school and competition from late November to late April. That’s over six months of practice, competition, and weeks of preseason dryland!

Over fifteen student-athletes are competing for MWV this season, ranging from freshmen to seniors and day students to boarding students. In addition to current MWV athletes, the FA Alpine team’s roster contains MWV alumni Merrick Iacozili, Holden Edenbach, and Zane Tully.

Athletes under 16 (U16) have had a notable start to their season with both Slalom and Giant Slalom races across New Hampshire at mountains such as Pats Peak, Gunstock, Wildcat, and Dartmouth Skiway. Many of these athletes finished close to or within the flip (the top 30 places), with many also placing within the top 15 finishes.

Older athletes over 16 (U18-U21) have been racing across New England against top-tier athletes who compete for ski academies, colleges, or even the US Ski Team. These athletes have raced at mountains like Okemo, VT; West Mountain, NY; Sunday River, ME; Stowe VT, Proctor NH, and more. They have noticeable finishes within the top 30 while staying on top of schoolwork.

Recent results include a second-place finish in the State Championships GS at Cranmore by McKenna Lennon '27 (pictured) on February 23 and a 3rd place finish in the Slalom at Proctor Academy on Saturday.